


XF Friday Nights 6: Warm Bodies

by ML_is_me



Series: XF Friday Nights [6]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Gen, XF Friday Nights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2017-05-12
Packaged: 2018-10-31 01:26:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10888926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ML_is_me/pseuds/ML_is_me
Summary: A tale of two partnerships.  This is the sixth story in an exploration of theearly seasons.  They are somewhat loosely tied together but can beread as standalones.





	XF Friday Nights 6: Warm Bodies

**Author's Note:**

> The "Agent Saunders" in this story is not the same one who appears  
> in "Impertinent Questions."

The phone rang, pulling her out of a deep sleep.

"Hello," she answered groggily. "Is that you?" She turned over to  
squint at the clock by her bed. It must be important for him to be  
calling at this hour.

"Who else would be calling you at 3 AM?" He wasn't in a good mood,  
she could tell already.

"Good point," she said, rubbing her eyes with one hand. "What's  
happened?"

"I got a call that a couple of bodies have been delivered to  
Bethesda that we'd be interested in. And Section Chief Blevins wants  
to see us at FBI Headquarters."

"Chief Blevins wants to see _us_?"

"So I'm told. Meet you there?"

She sighed. "Okay, fine. I'm on my way."

x-x-x

Despite the early hour, Section Chief Blevins looked as though he'd  
been at his desk for hours. A file was open before him, and a coffee  
mug steamed next to it.

"Agents. Thank you for coming in at such an early hour."

The partners looked at each other. After all, it was not as if  
they'd been given a choice in the matter. 

"Has this got to do with what's at Bethesda?" He asked without  
preamble. He didn't bother to hide his irritation from Blevins for  
being summoned in this way.

"Yes," Blevins said, ignoring the tone of the question. "Here's the  
preliminary report. I think you'll find that it's unusual." He  
handed the report over to the two agents.

"No visible cause of death? No visible injuries? What about the  
autopsy?"

"So far, no autopsy has been performed," Blevins admitted. "The ME  
called because of some special circumstances surrounding these  
bodies. I think you'll find that there is cause to believe that a  
kind of unusual phenomena may have contributed to the cause of  
death." 

The partners looked at the one-page report contained in the file.  
Their eyes met, neither quite believing what they'd read. 

Blevins continued: "I'm calling in some experts who may be of  
assistance to you. Agents Mulder and Scully will meet you at  
Bethesda Naval Hospital's morgue within the hour. They may be able  
to provide some insight into the case."

x-x-x

In the car on the way to Bethesda, Agent Webster said, "Who the hell  
is the FBI to get involved in _our_ case?"

Agent Saunders replied, "Have you ever heard of these two?"

Webster shook his head no.

"I know someone at Quantico," she told him. "She's mentioned this  
Mulder guy a time or two. He was some hotshot profiler but now he's  
on some assignment having to do with unsolved cases. Weird, unsolved  
cases." 

Agent Saunders did not add that the reason her friend remembered  
Mulder was due to another aspect of his reputation. Fox Mulder's  
presence rarely went unnoticed. Where he walked, rumors followed.

"Weird? Weird how?"

"Unusual, I guess. Stuff like unexplained phenomena, strange  
deaths, things like that."

"So they get assigned the crappy stuff, the unsolvable cases? Did  
he do something to piss someone off?"

"I've heard that's his specialty," Saunders said. "But also that  
he's really good at what he does."

"He's good at pissing people off? I don't see how that's supposed  
to help us," Webster usually drove in the same deliberate, precise  
fashion that he did everything. It was a measure of his frustration  
with the current circumstances of the case that he was driving much  
faster than the speed limit on the nearly deserted streets.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it. However, I think it's  
Agent Scully who's the expert here," Saunders said. "She's a  
pathologist. She taught at Quantico right out of the Academy. I  
think that's who Blevins had in mind when he said expert." 

There were rumors a-plenty about Dana Scully, same as Mulder, but  
Saunders felt there was no point in mentioning those, either. It all  
amounted to water-cooler gossip; none of them had anything to do with  
her ability to do her job. Saunders understood the reasons behind  
those rumors better than Webster or any man ever would, and she would  
not be a party to them.

"What about the pathologist at Bethesda?"

"She's the one who called Quantico for help." 

Webster grimaced. "Well, they have to do what Blevins says and  
cooperate with us, but we don't have to tell them anything. In fact,  
the less we say the better. If they're some kind of experts, they  
can tell _us_ what's going on."

They signed in and headed down to the morgue.

Just before they went in, Webster stopped and turned to Saunders.  
"Anything they ask, let me answer, alright? It's strictly 'need to  
know'. If the bodies are really Isfahan, it could be a huge break  
in the case."

"You don't have to remind me," Saunders replied tersely. He was  
really getting on her nerves with his bossiness. Generally he  
treated her as an equal, but this case had been going on for so long  
without any significant breaks that it was starting to affect their  
partnership in a negative way. She hoped that this was the break  
they needed. 

The pathologist met them at the door. "I'm sorry that I called in  
reinforcements, but I've really never seen anything like this." She  
gestured at the bodies.

"Let me see the report," Webster said, and the pathologist handed it  
over. "Are their identities confirmed?"

"Yes," the pathologist answered.

"If the FBI agents ask any questions, do not answer," Webster  
instructed the pathologist. "They're here to tell us what they know,  
not the reverse."

The pathologist nodded stiffly. "Do you want to examine the bodies  
first?"

"We'll wait until the 'experts' get here," Webster told her.

"Fine by me," the pathologist said. "I already got a shock off one  
of them."

Saunders hid a smile from both of them. She noted that Webster  
handed the clipboard back to the pathologist and stood well away from  
the gurneys. He didn't usually attend autopsies. He had no stomach  
for them. It was his dirty little secret.

She turned to stand beside him. They were known as "Mutt and Jeff"  
among their peers due to their height disparity. The nickname stung,  
but it went with the job. It didn't matter to her, as long as she  
had the respect of her partner. Names only had the power to hurt you  
if you let them.

The intercom beeped and the guard at the front desk said, "Agents  
Mulder and Scully are on their way down."

They didn't have long to wait. In a few moments the double doors  
swung open abruptly and the two agents strode into the room.

"Agent Scully, Agent Mulder, Chief Blevins assures us of your  
cooperation. We regret any inconvenience at this extreme hour,"  
Webster said formally as soon as they walked in, letting them know  
immediately that he was in charge. Regardless of Section Chief  
Blevins' veiled suggestions, this case did not belong to the FBI, and  
certainly not to these two agents. 

"We hope your expertise in 'extraordinary phenomena' will help us  
answer some questions," Saunders added.

Agent Mulder had bristled at Webster's announcement and was not  
mollified by Saunders' more temperate words. He dominated the room  
as soon as he walked in, barking questions, impatient when met with  
silence instead of answers. 

Agent Scully said little, but Saunders watched her as she began to  
examine the first body. She directed her questions to the  
pathologist, who threw harassed glances at Webster for guidance about  
what she should say.

Webster relented a little, doling out information that he deemed  
safe for the agents to know. Finally, the two FBI agents left, none  
the wiser about the case, but decidedly every bit as pissed off as  
Webster was. 

"That went well," Saunders said to Webster. He didn't mind being  
teased a little, as long as it wasn't in front of anyone else.

"They don't know much more than when they walked in, and nothing  
substantive about our case," Webster said. "That was my goal."

"But neither do we," Saunders pointed out, "and, I think Agent  
Mulder knows more than he let on."

"How could he?" Webster wanted to know.

"There was just...something. A look his partner gave him, like she  
expected him to say something."

"Then keep an eye on them. If they turn anything up, make any kind  
of report, I want to know about it."

x-x-x

-Philadelphia, PA-

"We've already had someone inquiring about the ATM tapes," the head  
of security for the Broad Street branch of Craddock Marine Bank said.  
"A couple of FBI agents were here this morning."

Webster and Saunders looked at each other.

"Can you show us what, if anything, they found?"

The security manager ran the tape for them again, stopping at the  
frames the other agents had remarked upon. Saunders recognized the  
face of Lauren Kyte. Her attackers' faces were also clear.

"If they saw this, then they'll be talking to her soon. Maybe they  
already are talking to her. And from there, the connection to HTG  
won't be far away. How the hell did they make the connection so  
fast?" Webster asked.

Saunders shrugged. Mulder had a reputation for making intuitive  
leaps but this seemed almost...spooky. 

"Should we go to Blevins, lodge a complaint? Or maybe we should go  
above him?" Webster asked

"Maybe it's Blevins who's telling them to continue, Saunders  
suggested. "Maybe he knew the ID of the bodies -- or someone came to  
him. The more attention that's brought to this, the more likely  
we'll lose control of the whole thing."

"Agreed," Webster said. "Just keep an eye on them. They'd better  
not blow this for us, or I'll go all the way to Janet Reno."

x-x-x

Lauren Kyte had been interviewed by the police after the death of  
Howard Graves, as had several other employees of HTG Technologies.  
It seemed certain that Graves had committed suicide, but so far they  
hadn't been able to find a connection to illegal business practices  
\-- just the loss of a large contract that HTG had been counting on. 

Webster and Saunders had been avoiding talking to anyone at HTG  
until they were sure of a connection. Howard Graves' suicide seemed  
to have accelerated things, and now with the two Isfahan members  
cooling their heels in the morgue...something had to shake loose  
soon.

They watched outside of Lauren Kyte's house as Mulder and Scully  
entered. In short order, they were back out on the sidewalk and  
getting into their car, looking like they'd gotten nothing from Ms.  
Kyte.

Suddenly the FBI agents' car hurtled down the street in reverse.  
Webster and Saunders looked on in astonishment as the car reached the  
intersection and was hit and spun around by another car.

"We should go see if they're okay!" Saunders exclaimed, opening her  
door.

"Wait just a second," Webster said, grabbing her arm. She looked at  
him, shocked at his callousness. 

"A year," he reminded her. "Let's not blow this."

Fortunately, first Mulder, then Scully emerged from the car, both  
apparently unhurt.

"Did you see anyone tamper with their car?" Saunders asked.

"Maybe Mulder's just a really bad driver," Webster said. "With the  
tape, we have enough to keep Ms. Kyte under surveillance ourselves  
now. I'll make the call."

Saunders knew better than to say anything more. There was no point  
to it. Webster bought the party line about non-cooperation with the  
FBI, and he would never let anything stand in the way of his  
investigation.

God help her if she did anything that in his eyes compromised the  
investigation. It had gotten to the point that nothing else mattered  
to him.

x-x-x

-National Bureau of Medical Examiners, Philadelphia-

"Do you people have nothing better to do than to follow each other  
around?" ME Bledsoe asked. "Why don't you just ask them?"

"For reasons of national security," Webster told her.

"Well, here's the report. They wanted to know if Howard Graves was  
really dead. I told them he was. End of story. Now, I have work to  
do," the ME said, and turned her back on Webster and Saunders.

Outside of Bledsoe's office, Webster asked, "What the hell are they  
trying to prove?"

"It sounds like some kind of wild goose chase to me," Saunders said.

"Positive ID of Graves' body was already made, and cause of death  
has been established. I don't get it."

"Maybe that's the point," Saunders said. "Maybe they know we're  
keeping tabs on them, and they're just leading us around."

"It would be just like those jackasses at the FBI," Webster  
muttered. "Doesn't matter. How's the surveillance of Ms. Kyte  
going?"

"Nothing unusual, though it appears she's not going to work out her  
notice at HTG," Saunders said. "They're throwing a going away party  
for her today."

"Damn it!" Webster exclaimed. "We can't let her leave town. She  
could be a material witness."

"Maybe we should contact Agents Mulder and Scully directly,"  
Saunders suggested. "Pool our resources and see if they have  
anything."

"No way," Webster said. "This is our case."

A few hours later, something happened that made Webster change his  
mind.

-FBI Field Office, Philadelphia-

"Before we go in there, are we clear?" Webster asked his partner.

"They have seriously compromised our investigation," Saunders  
repeated dutifully.

"Yes, they have," Webster said. "You know, I asked around after  
what you told me about Mulder. He has a reputation for sticking his  
nose in places where it doesn't belong."

"Isn't that what investigation is all about?" muttered Saunders.  
Aloud, she said, "don't you think it would make more sense to share  
what we know with them, and ask them to tell us what they've found  
out?"

"No, I do not," Webster said. "I told you, I was warned about  
Mulder. He's a grandstander and a troublemaker. We don't have time  
for territory squabbles. This is war."

"But not against the FBI," Saunders pointed out. "I think we're on  
the same side."

Webster ignored her. "We need to speak to Agent Mulder," he told  
the receptionist.

Another agent led the way back to an interrogation room where Lauren  
Kyte sat with the two FBI agents.

"Mulder. Scully. He'll keep an eye on her," Webster ordered. He  
jerked his head at the agent who'd shown them in.

The two FBI agents did not immediately respond. "Come on. Now,"  
Webster said.

After a moment, Mulder got up and sauntered through the door,  
followed by Agent Scully.

Webster stood just outside the door, imposingly tall, saying  
nothing. He liked to intimidate by size and silence. This was  
Saunders' cue.

"You have seriously compromised our investigation," she said to  
Mulder, just as her partner wanted.

"We were following leads pertaining to the X Files," Mulder said,  
unperturbed. He was every bit as tall as Webster, and didn't seem  
particularly intimidated by him. Mulder seemed to use sarcasm and  
obtuseness as his weapons of choice. 

"I want to know every detail of your activities concerning this  
case," Webster ordered.

"What case?" Scully asked. "You're the ones who've been withholding  
information. Why don't you tell us what you've got?"

Saunders shot a look at her partner, who remained silent.

"Then we have nothing more to talk about," Mulder said, and he and  
Scully turned away.

Without looking at her partner again, Saunders said, "We believe HTG  
Industrial Technologies sold restricted parts to the Isfahan."

Mulder and Scully turned around. Webster looked down at Saunders.  
She stared back at him, daring him to keep his silence.

All at once he relented. "Partial serial numbers from their  
manifest were recovered in the wreckage of a July bombing of a Navy  
transport van."

Mulder asked, "How's Lauren Kyte involved?"

"We don't quite know. Your actions impeded our investigation,"  
Webster said in an accusing tone.

Saunders spoke up again. "In any case, we don't have enough  
evidence to hold her. If she doesn't talk, she goes free and we lose  
our chance to break this company."

Still trying to control the situation, Webster said, "I could make  
her talk."

Mulder smirked at him. "My advice to you: don't get rough with her."  
Webster gestured to Saunders and they entered the interrogation room.

x-x-x

Lauren Kyte was tiny but obdurate. She resisted cajoling, threats,  
even an appeal to her patriotism.

"I just want to leave and never come back," she said over and over  
again.

Webster kept trying, though. The minutes crept into hours and she  
remained unmoved.

"Let's take a break," Webster said finally.

"That was a waste of time," Saunders remarked as they left the room.

"Your turn," Webster said to Mulder and Scully. Once they went back  
into the room, he turned on his partner. "You may be the one who has  
seriously compromised our investigation now."

"Maybe I gave us the last best shot we have at moving forward with  
this case," Saunders said.

"I doubt it," Webster said morosely. "They're not gonna get  
anywhere. I didn't."

"_We_ didn't," Saunders said. "I'll tell you what. Let's do it my  
way for once. What have we got to lose?"

"Fine," Webster said. "But it's never gonna happen now." He leaned  
against the counter in the break room, refusing to look at his  
partner.

Ten minutes later, Agent Scully came out with the news that Lauren  
Kyte had told them what they needed to know, and had agreed to help.  
Mulder followed behind, looking sulky.

How did Scully deal with a sulky partner? Saunders wondered.

"Agent Saunders," Scully addressed her. "I have a judge standing by  
to swear out a warrant to search HTG. How do you want to run this?"

x-x-x

-Outside HTG Technologies, some hours later-

"Thanks for your help," Webster said grudgingly. "I'll let Blevins  
know how helpful you were."

"Not necessary," Mulder told him. "As I said, we were here  
pertaining to an X Files investigation. You can have all the credit  
for the bust."

Saunders looked at Agent Scully and caught the ghost of a smile.  
She smiled herself and noticed Scully looking at her with a knowing  
expression.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Saunders asked as they walked out to  
their car.

"Yeah, when they finally decided to listen to reason," Webster said.

"Mulder's okay, for an FBI agent. So's Agent Scully," he added  
belatedly.

"Just out of curiosity, where'd you get your information about  
Mulder?" Saunders asked.

"Holtzman," he replied. "He's had dealings with Mulder in the past."

"Holtzman? Between you and me, he's a jerk. Maybe you'll consider  
the source next time," Saunders said.

"There better not be a next time," Webster said. "I don't know what  
Blevins was trying to pull, but I'll bet it wasn't because he wanted  
to foster interagency cooperation."

"Probably not," Saunders agreed. "But we'll probably never know,  
either. It's above our pay grade."

"Fine by me," Webster said.

"I don't think that he was doing his own agents any favors, either,"  
Saunders pointed out. "It was a no-win situation."

"What makes you think that?" Webster asked.

"I don't know," she said. "Just a feeling."

"Now, don't you go all spooky on me," he warned. "I don't know how  
Agent Scully puts up with it. I don't want to find out."

Saunders smiled in surprise. It had been a long time since her  
partner had told a joke or even cracked a smile. "Same as how I put  
up with you," she replied. "Sometimes, I let you be the boss."

"Huh," he said. "That'll be the day..." 

-end-

**Author's Note:**

> The two agents, never identified by agency or name  
> in the episode, are listed as "Mr. Webster" and "Ms. Saunders" in the  
> credits. I was struck by the similarities between them and Mulder  
> and Scully. They may be the anti-Mulder and Scully, in their way,  
> but to me they were a little like M&S doppelgangers.  
> So that's how I wrote them. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
